Segesta

Decree (detail of a bronze tablet) by the Entellans in honour of the Segestans: «Under the archons Artemidoros, son of Eielos and Gnaios son of Oppios, in the first day of the month of Panamos. Since the Segestans have always been benevolent towards us, while we were in our land as well as after we were expelled from there, and when many of our people were captured, both men and women, they made their best endeavour to help them return safely to their city, it was decided by the council and the assembly that they shall enjoy forever the benevolence of the people of Entella as well as isopoliteia. The archons shall place this decree in the bouleterion after having it engraved on a bronze tablet.» (Archeological Museum, Palermo)

Agrigento

Agrigento Timeline

580 BC: Agrigento is founded as a colony of Gela and came to prominence under the tyrants Phalaris and Theron

480 BC: The artificial lake Kolymbetra was dug by Theron's Carthaginian prisoners taken at Himera

406 BC: The Carthaginians capture the city after an eight-month siege and burn the city

340 BC: Agrigento was rebuilt by Timoleon, who defeated the Carthaginians

261 BC: The Romans take the city

255 BC: Carthaginians recapture the city

218-201 BC Agrigento suffered badly during the Second Punic War when both Rome and Carthage fought to control it.

210 BC: The Romans take the city again, this time Agrigentum remained in their possession until the fall of the empire. Agrigentum remained a largely Greek-speaking community for centuries after the Roman conquest.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the city successively passed into the hands of the Vandalic Kingdom, the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy and then the Byzantine Empire. During this period the inhabitants of Agrigentum largely abandoned the lower parts of the city and moved to the former acropolis, at the top of the hill (this was probably related to the destructive coastal raids of the Saracens).

Late 6th century: The Temple of Concord is converted into a church by the bishop of Agrigento, San Gregorio delle Rape (St Gregory of the Turnips)

828 AD: The Arabs take the city and make the trade flourish by cultivating cotton, sugar-cane and mulberries for the silk industry (they even had to make a new harbour, at Porto Empedocles)

1087: The Normans take Agrigento after a 116 days siege

1867: Luigi Pirandello was born

1885: The author Guy de Maupassant travels in Italy, Sicily included. After returning to Paris, Maupassant began publishing his Sicilian travel memoirs in installments in Le Figaro and Gil Blas

1927: Mussolini orders that the city should be called Agrigento, not Girgenti

Coin from Agrigento (Akragas), circa 460-446 BC.Description: Sicily, Akragas AR Tetradrachm. Circa 460-446 BC. Sea eagle standing left on Ionic capital, AKRACANTOΣ around / Crab; spiralled tendril ornament with floral terminals below; all within shallow incuse circle. SNG ANS 982 var; Lee Group II; cf. SNG Lockett 695 for same obverse die, 696 for reverse type but different die. 17.54g, 25mm, 6h. Fleur De Coin. From the James Howard Collection. Published in Roma Numismatics VII was the first of the Howard collection's two truly spectacular Akragas tetradrachms (lot 85), which bore an inverted dolphin as the reverse adjunct symbol. A comparison between these two exemplars of Akragantine coinage is extremely difficult, for both are of a quality that collectors have seldom, if ever, been offered the chance to acquire. Although this coin's reverse symbol may be considered somewhat less exotic than that of its abovementioned brother, the eagle's head is undeniably more detailed, and its plumage sharper - indicative of an overall slightly greater state of preservation. Indeed, the freshness of the metal and the lightly toned, satin finish are quite remarkable; this coin should certainly be considered to be amongst the very finest of its type.

Making Greek Vases

The lion to the left of the church of the Purgatorio in Agrigento town sleeps above the locked entrance to a huge labyrinth of underground water-channels and reservoirs, built by the Greek architect Phaiax in the 5th century BC.

Syracuse / Siracusa

The Greek theatre in the Archeological Park, one of the most celebrated of all the ruins of Syracuse. With its 138 metre in diameter, it is the largest Greek theatre in Sicily. To the right you see preparations for the evening's performance of Verdi's Aida.

The year 406 marked a desperate time for the Greeks in Sicily. A great Carthaginian invasion of Sicily had commenced in the Spring to punish the Greeks for having raided the Punic territories of Motya and Panormos. 60,000 soldiers under Hannibal Mago in 1,000 transports along with 120 triremes sailed for Sicily, where despite a plague that ravaged the ranks of the Carthaginian army and felled its commander, they successfully besieged and sacked Akragas, the wealthiest of all the cities of Sicily. After razing the city to the ground, the Carthaginians under their new commander Himilco marched east to Gela. Despite a spirited defence of the city by the defenders and the arrival of a relief force of 34,000 men and 50 triremes under Dionysios of Syracuse, the city fell after a poorly coordinated and unsuccessful attack launched by the Greeks. As Dionysios retreated from Gela first to Kamarina and then back to Syracuse, both of these now indefensible cities were sacked and levelled by Himilco's forces. It was against this backdrop of a desperate fight for survival that many emergency coinages were issued in Sicily. Gold was scarce in the Greek world and tended to be used only for emergency coinages, as in that famous instance when Athens in the last decade of the fifth century resorted to melting the gold from the statues of Nike on the Akropolis when cut off from their silver mines at Laurion. Gela, Akragas, Kamarina and Syracuse all issued emergency gold coinage in 406/5 BC, without doubt to pay the mercenaries they had hired in their doomed resistance to Himilco. The master engraver 'IM...' responsible for this coin is also known to have engraved Syracusan tetradrachms around this period (see Tudeer 67). Thanks a lot to Roma Numismatics!

The Italian chef Giorgio Locatelli tells of his soft spot for Sicily: "The island has so many magical places: the ancient amphitheatres of Syracuse; the little town of Erice, where there are more churches than houses; the Norman cathedral of Monreale. The Villa Romana del Casale, just outside the town of Piazza Armerina, has an incredible collection of Roman mosaics. They include beautiful mosaics of girls in bikinis. Romans! In bikinis! My kids thought that was so funny; they loved it." Read more in The Guardian

The Latomie of Syracuse is the limestone quarries later used for prisons. Now it is a tropical garden full of local and exotic plant species. The main attractions are the grottos Ear of Dionysos (Orecchio di Dionisio) and Grotta dei Cordari (now closed for security reasons).

Fonte Aretusa

Fonte Aretusa, one of the most famous fresh-water sources of the Greek world. The pond was built in 1843.

The first presence of Greeks in Sicily came with the foundation of Naxos in c. 734 B.C. The settlers were Chalcidians of Euboea, Greece, under the leadership of Theocles. The Greek "invasion" of Sicily went on the next 150 years. In 403 BC Naxos was destroyed by the tyrant Dionysius of Syracuse.

Taormina was founded by the Carthaginian Himilco (after 398 BC); he populated the place with Sicels who lived in Naxos (granted them in 404 by Dionysius). In 392 BC, Taormina was captured and repopulated by Dionysius of Syracuse, who began the process of turning it into a Greek city. (Carratelli p 171)

Taormina was enlarged in 358 under Andromachus, father of the historian Timaeus, who gathered together the survivors of the destruction of Naxos (in 403 BC). It was favoured by Rome during the early days of occupation, and suffered in the Servile War (135–132 BC) when the city was held by slaves for several months. The Syrian slave rebel Eunus in Enna organised a rebellion in 135 BC which led to the First Servile War. After taking over Enna, he was joined by Cleon from Agrigento to form an army some sources says consisted of 200,000 men. They took Taormina, but in 132 BC the revolt was suppressed by the Roman consul Publius Rupilius. The 15,000 slaves were thrown off the cliffs of Taormina, according to some sources; other sources say crucified.

After Ceasar's death, the entire population of Taormina (Tauromenium), was deported and others lost their Latin rights.

The Arabs took Taormina in 903 (or 902), 72 years after Palermo and Messina fell in 831.

In 965 Taormina was attacked by the Tunisian Caliph al-Muez, and the theatre was destroyed. The caliph, who later founded modern Cairo, rebuilt the town, modestly renaming it Almoezia, as it was known until Count Roger conquered it in August 1079. Here the Sicilian Parliament assembled in 1410 to choose a king on the extinction of the line of Peter of Aragon.

Selinunte

In 414 BC hostilities flared up between Selinus (Selinunte) and Segesta. Since Segesta didn't get any help from Akragas (Agrigento), they went to to Athens during the winter 416/415 to beg for help. The Athenian expedition in Sicily (415-413 BC), however, was a complete disaster for Greece. Later Segesta asked Carthage for help, leading to the total destruction of Selinus by the hands of Carthage.

Snails at Selinunte. Following the Carthiginian siege of 409 BC, Selinunte was systematically destroyed.

Solunto

Solunto may have replaced a Phoenician settlement in the vicinity, destroyed by Dionysos of Syracuse in 397 BC. Solus was built in the 4th Century, and fell to the Romans in 254 BC. By the 3rd Century BC it was abandoned. The city was discovered in 1825.

Halaesa Arconidea (Alesa Arconidea)

Gela

Gorgon roof ornament, 500-450 BC. Found off the coast of Gela. Soprintendenza per i Beni culturali e ambientali del Mare, Palermo, inv. 4237. Part of the exhibition Storms, War & Shipwrecks - Treasures from the Sicilian Seas at Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archeology.

Netum / Neeton (Greek: Νέητον)

Netum or Neetum (Greek: Νέητον), was a town in the south of Sicily, near the river Asinarus (modern Falconara). It was located where Noto Antica is today.

It was probably subject to Syracuse; a treaty was concluded in 263 BCE between the Romans and King Hieron II of Syracuse, Netum was noticed as one of the cities left in subjection to that monarch.

Ptolemy is the last ancient writer that mentions the name; but there is no doubt that it continued to exist throughout the Middle Ages; and under the Norman kings rose to be a place of great importance, and the capital of the southern province of Sicily, to which it gave the name of Val di Noto. Some remains of the ancient amphitheatre, and of a building called a gymnasium, are still visible, and a Greek inscription, which belongs to the time of Hieron II. (From Wikipedia)

Diodorus XXIII:
Both consuls went to Sicily [263 BC??], and laying siege to the city of Hadranum took it by storm. Then, while they were besieging the city of Centuripa and were encamped by the Brazen Gates, envoys arrived, first from the people of Halaesa; then, as fear fell upon the other cities as well, they too sent ambassadors to treat for peace and to deliver their cities to the Romans. These cities numbered sixty-seven. The Romans, after adding the forces of these cities to their own, advanced upon Syracuse, intending to besiege Hiero. But Hiero, perceiving the discontent of the Syracusans, sent envoys to the consuls to discuss a settlement, and inasmuch as the Romans were eager to have as their foe the Carthaginians alone, they readily consented and concluded a fifteen-year peace; the Romans received one hundred and fifty thousand drachmas; Hiero, on condition of returning the captives of war, was to continue as ruler of the Syracusans and of the cities subject to him, Acrae, Leontini, Megara, Helorum, Neetum, and Tauromenium. While these things were taking place Hannibal arrived with a naval force at Xiphonia, intending p89 to bring aid to the king, but when he learned what had been done, he departed.The Library of History of Diodorus Siculus published in Vol. XI of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1957

Centuripe

Terracotta statuette of a seated goddess, 5th century B.C., made in Sicily. This goddess wears a low polos (headdress) over a veil. She is dressed in the manner of an Archaic kore (statue of a young woman) of the sixth century B.C. in a fine linen chiton and a short himation (cloak) that crosses the chest at a diagonal. Her serious expression, however, is typical of later works, created in the fifth century B.C. (Accession 1972.118.127, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)